


No matter where you are I never will be far away

by indigomountian



Series: Stark Magic [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Crying Harry, Fever Dreams, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Magic, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Parent Tony Stark, Past Child Abuse, Prophetic Visions, Protective Tony Stark, Sassy Jarvis, Seer Harry Potter, Torture, many light bulbs were harmed in the making of this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-17 22:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14840291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigomountian/pseuds/indigomountian
Summary: After finally detaching Harry and sending him off to Pepper he's finally ready to go. This is not the first business trip Tony's had to go on since he found Harry so he's not sure why it's made into such a production this time. He has a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, he'll be back in three days.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Any mention of vaguely scientific things are from the internet so take it for what it is. 
> 
> Not beta read.

God, he always hated it when his baby cried. It was always just as heart breaking as the very first time. You would think one could build up immunity to that sort of thing but apparently not. Pepper said he was going soft and while she was right but Tony would drink one of Dum-E’s motor oil and banana smoothies before he told _her_ that.

It also sucked when he had to buy a whole new batch of light bulbs… but that was no one’s fault and no one was in trouble for it. It was just annoying and meant the cleaning crew had to be extra thorough to get up all the glass. The teary eyes were the thing that really got to Tony.

“Bambino, please don’t cry. I’ll be gone for three days, and then I’ll be back. We can go to the zoo again when I am. How ‘bout that?” there was a pop followed by the tinkle of glass, that meant there were now three bulbs to replace, “We’ll get ice cream and feed the deer! I know how much you love the deer. I think one of them just had a baby, maybe they’ll let you pet it.”

He was one hundred percent trying to bribe an eight year old to stop crying, but at least he hadn’t promised to buy the zoo or anything… this time. Rhodey had been there that day to stop him, and thank fuck for that because Tony did not have the time to or interest in running a zoo, anything more than throwing money at it once in a while was too much work for him. They did however have year round passes to all the major ones in the Malibu area and Harry was on a first name basis with almost all the animals and half of the zoo keepers.

“Please Harry,” he was going to be late for his plane; Pepper was not going to be impressed. Actually a quick look at the clock told him he was already way late for the plane… great.

“I don’t want you to go. Daddy, don’t go!” The warble in his voice almost had Tony caving to the demand but he had a presentation to give in Afghanistan in twenty six hours, and while he would love to blow it off and spend the time with Harry instead, Obi had specifically asked him to go. He _never_ did that. Apparently he had something important to do in New York but the weapon demo in Afghanistan was equally important.

“I know you don’t want me to go, Munchkin. I don’t want to go either. Being an adult is not fun, but everybody becomes one eventually. I held out as long as I could but Zia Pepper did me in, in the end,” That wasn’t quite true. It was really a tiny brunet with great big emerald eyes that finally forced him to act his age… for the most part. He still missed most of his meetings at the office and never did his paperwork unless Pepper was quite literally breathing down his neck, but he ate three square meals a day and went to bed on a regular schedule, so that was something. And if it was for Harry's benefit, well most things these days were.

Instead of calming down, Harry just got more upset and, yup, there go the rest of the lights. At least it was only the lights. All the electronics in the house were hardened but the actual light bulbs were not something he could keep from shattering, occasionally he lost a picture frame too. The military hardware was essential at home after that first time a month after Harry had arrived and Tony had to replace _everything_ in a sixty foot radius from Harry.

He was so lucky that his lab was already shielded with sixteen inches of lead and that Jarvis was housed at a private server farm at an undisclosed location in western Texas. He should make a backup farm somewhere else. Maybe in Asia somewhere, just in case.

He was _still_ working on exactly what was happening when Harry somehow blew out every electronic thing that wasn’t hardened against EMPs and shattered every piece of glass. He had sensors up, and there were no EMPs per say; it both was and wasn’t electromagnetic radiation, he truthfully didn’t know what it actually was. As near as Tony and Jarvis could tell it was a completely unlabeled and unstudied form of radioactivity, relatively low on the spectrum somewhere below visible light and hard to pin down due to how fast it decayed.

It warranted more testing but he was finding it difficult to test for; especially considering he didn’t want to perform tests _on_ his son. If he got data from what Harry was doing, that was one thing. Making his son so upset he cried and somehow ruined the electronics in the room; that was unthinkable. And in fact he had more important things to deal with right now that a bit of broken light bulb.  

“Harry, Tesoro, don’t you want to have your sleep over with Zia Pepper?” Harry wasn’t usually this clingy, sure he was never very happy when Tony had to go on a trip without him, but he loved sleepovers with Pepper. _She_ acted like it was the only time Harry had any structure in his life, like Tony didn’t know they stayed up until eleven at night watching movies and eating sugar.

“No, I want you!” Harry was just about hyperventilating with how upset he had become. His hair was moving in ways that were unjustifiable considering they were in their living room and there was no wind, unless one of the windows had shattered and Tony had missed it. But no, the windows were intact and made of his very own super strong polycarbonate polymer mixture that Harry had yet to successfully break; it was the best on the market hands down and already slated for military use. He did notice various objects around them were sort of hovering though. Well that was new. Jarvis would scan and record everything to the best of his ability and Tony would look it over on the plane ride.

“Sweetheart, hey I want you to breathe with me. Can you do that?” Tony gave a deep breath while rubbing circles onto Harry's back. Harry shuddered his way through a few breaths before he actually started calming down.

“I want you to come back, Daddy. Please come back,” his breath hitched again before he got it back on track.

“Of course I’m coming back. I’ll always come back to you. There’s nothing more important to me than you. Understand? Nothing is more important than you, Harry.” Tony told him hugging his bambino close.

“I love you, Daddy,” was mumbled into his chest.

“Love you too, Topolino. Love you too,” it would be a long three days, “I’ll call you when I land to say goodnight.”

It wasn’t easy but he detached himself from his spawn without the help of a crowbar once they got outside and handed him off to Happy, who would take him to Pepper. Tony got into his own car because if he dropped Harry off himself it would be just that much harder to actually drop him off, as everyone was already aware.

A call came in from Rhodey; a million bucks said he was complaining about Tony not being there yet, “Platypus! What are you up to?” wait for it.

“I have been waiting for two hours. Where are you?” And there it is, his ever punctual Honey Bear was sitting on the plane with his panties in a twist.

“I’m on my way.”

“Are you? Are you really?”

“Would I lie to you? I’m leaving my driveway right now. I’ll be like an hour tops, it’s all fine.”

“An hour! Tony, we were supposed to be wheels up almost _two hours ago!_ We have a schedule to keep.”

“Sour patch, it’s my plane. I would think they’d wait for me. Point proven, you haven’t taken off yet. So I think I’ve got the time. We’ll have an hour and a half after we land before I’m due to give the presentation.”

“It is a two hour ride from the airbase we’re landing at to the test zone, Tony!” and yeah Rhodey had him there.

“It’s called being fashionably late Rhodey. Definitely my style.”

“Harry wouldn’t let you leave, would he?” and he was smirking, the jerk.

“Had to physically pry him off of my body,” he wasn’t too proud to admit that, and Rhodey definitely knew how it went already.

The actual flight wasn’t noteworthy. He spent most of it reading through the data Jarvis had gathered from the newest phenomena around Harry. Over the last two and a half years Tony had come to accept that Lily had been on the level about all this magic stuff. She had even said there were magical communities in America, all over the world in fact. If he could find one it would be so much easier to actually study magic.

The only thing he actually had to study was the baby picture of Harry and Lily but he didn’t want to damage it somehow. Sure he had made digital copies, both still frames and the full ten second gif, but he still liked the real one best. The mystery of it was part of the appeal; add into it that he had seen Harry stare at it for hours, watching his mother smile and laugh at him and it would just about kill Tony if he were the one who took that away from him.

So he learned everything he could from Harry's accidents after they happened and tried his hardest to find these apparent magical communities. The problem was they were hiding, always had been; but if anyone was going to find them, it was going to be Tony Stark. If he could isolate the wavelength of Harry's… well he really hated to call anything magic, it irked him on a base level, but magic was the only word and there was a strong chance it was just that because trying to explain it in a scientific way was a huge pain in the ass. He just had to get a good read on Harry's magic then he was pretty sure Jarvis would be able to scan for more instances of it; both with their own scanners and ones that he may or may not have to illegally hack for the occasion.

They were getting close, and really they should be, he’d been working on this on and off for two years. They would find the magical community and then Tony could finally get some solid answers. He was sure there were magical people who would be just a willing as regular people to sign up to be a science experiment for the right price. And there had to be reading material on the subject, understanding it from a magical perspective might help him grasp it from a scientific one; and he was determined to understand.

He was also hoping to have something to show to Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey; if he came to them with what he had now they would accuse him of trying to pull some kind of weird and very elaborate prank on them. Security footage of Harry levitating objects and shorting out electronics could be doctored; and as the foremost expert at the front of the cutting edge in all things tech, if anyone could make a paper thin screen that looked like a Polaroid _and would_ make it specifically to play a .gif of his infant son then it was Tony Stark. Actually he should look into that, it would be a hot seller if it was even scientifically possible.

With Harry's latest showing to add to their data points Jarvis started running scans under the new parameters, by the time he was back stateside they might have found something. One can hope at least.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheels down in Afghanistan, Tony cant help but show off his adorable son.

There was something poking him in the face; if it was Dum-E with a greasy screw driver again, he was going to dismantle him and use him for parts. Well maybe not, because the one time he threatened to do that where Harry could hear he got a lip wobble and Tony couldn’t handle any more tears right now. And oh yeah, he was on a trip which was why he had already filled his quota of Harry tears for the week.

That meant that it was Rhodey poking him in the face with a pen. He must have fallen asleep at some point, damn his consistent schedule. Three years ago he would have been awake until he was home in his bed three days from now. Was he getting old?

“I swear to fuck, if you poke me one more time with that thing, Honey Bear...” god, he must be getting old, he wanted to go back to sleep. Sleep used to be for the weak.

“You’ll what, snore at me until I give in and smother you with a pillow?” Wow, someone took their snarky pills today.

“Rude much? The godfather of my child, plotting my demise so he can have Harry all to himself. Well the joke’s on you, Pepper gets custody. Also _I do not **snore**!_ ” never, he had never snored a day in his life and Rhodey was a lying liar who lied.

“You do so snore. Like a chorus of chainsaws in an acre of Redwoods. And like I want your little hell spawn sugar demon. Pepper has sent me footage of that little monster on a rampage.I think I’ll pass.”

“Harry is a national treasure! You take that back. I have the most wonderful child in the whole world. It is not my fault Pepper is a masochist who likes to give him sugar every single time she is in his presence for more than ten seconds. She has started carrying hard candies in her pockets for him. Did you know that? _And_ a great big jar on her desk, she is taking this cool aunt thing too far.”

“You just hate that he’s always sugared up afterwards,” Rhodey says like that’s some kind of counter argument.

“Uh, yeah. Weren’t you listening to yourself? She knows it makes him bounce off the walls, sometimes literally,” And hadn’t that been interesting, like an actually rubber ball. It nearly gave him a heart attack, “and yet she still does it. And Harry knows just where to go to get his fix. He’s like a little crack addict, except he’s addicted to sugar and his dealer is his Zia Pepper.”

“You do know this is payback for all the years you made her life hell, right?” and damn that man for laughing at his pain and suffering.

“I know perfectly well _why_ she’s doing it. It is both torture for me and wonderful for him. But that much sugar can’t be good for him... Oh god, I sound like a responsible adult! What has happened to me, Sour Patch?” The horror! It can't be so.

“You stepped up when you needed to. And I am so proud of you for that,” all of the levity of a moment ago was gone and Rhodes was suddenly very serious.

“You know I’m allergic to feelings, Platypus! I can’t break out in hives right now; I have a very important presentation to give in front of all the big military brass,” with a pat on the shoulder to let him know Tony got the message he blew past and hopped into his seat on the caravan of Humvees that was waiting for them. Rhodey trailed after and gave a pat of his own in return.

The soldiers on either side of him were glancing at him subtly; and by that Tony meant they were one step down from outright staring. Obviously they wanted the chance to say something to Tony Stark but weren’t sure yet what they would actually say or if they even should. He’d give them the trip there to get their courage up, if not he would break the ice himself. God, they looked like such kids. He really was getting old and soft. But only internally, he would not abide by flabby abs! He had _some_ standards, even if no one else believed it.

It was a very quiet ride, and after a few minutes he couldn’t stand the silence so he made the call he should have made on the last leg of the flight instead of falling asleep. Jarvis patched him through in seconds.

“HI DADDY! Are you done yet? Please come home!” wow, that boy was never getting to sleep tonight. At least it was a Saturday.

“Hi bambino. I see Pepper has decided to torture _herself_ this time, did she give you ice cream or candy?” knowing Pepper the answer was probably both.

“Candy! Candy! Candy! Are you almost home?” and if Jarvis wasn’t as amazing as he was at modulating the sound levels for him, he was sure his ear would be ringing with how loud Harry was. He would feel bad for Pepper if it weren’t a demon of her own making. Not that his little angel was anything but perfect, looking at you Rhodey.

“No Cucciolo, I’ll be home in two days. Are you having fun with Zia Pepper?”

“I’d be having more fun if you were here. You could come home now. Turn around and fly back?” he didn’t sound hyper anymore; maybe he was having a sugar crash. He was really clingy the last couple days, more than he had been almost since Tony got him. It was concerning, maybe he should call Dr. Michaels and schedule an appointment when he got back.

“I can’t sweetie, you know that. I have to work sometimes. I wish I didn’t, so I could spend _all_ my time with you, but sometimes other people need my attention, but none of them are as cute as my little munchkin,” or as smart, Harry could probably outwit his entire board of directors without even breaking a sweat. 

“I miss you so much, please come home,” and there were the tears again. Had he somehow made it seem like he wouldn’t come home as soon as he could?

“Two days, bambino. I promise. Then I’ll be back. Maybe less, if I can get us off the ground sooner I will.”

“But what if you don’t come back?” there were these little breathy sobs that Tony could only just hear over the line.

“I _will_ come back. Always,” Tony really wished he knew where this was coming from.

“I’ll miss you, and think of you every day. I love you daddy.”

“I love you, Topolino. Good night, sleep tight. Tell Zia Pepper to give you an extra kiss from me.”

“Ok. Bye daddy,” he was still a little chocked up when he ended the call. The soldiers on either side of him had politely stared out the window to give him the illusion of privacy.

“That was my kid if you didn’t guess. Who wants to see pictures?” all but the driver turned almost in unison to see whatever he had to show. He tugged a smile onto his face, “This is Harry. He turned eight in July.”

The video was one of the thousands he had of Harry at a petting zoo; he was a big fan of animals. This of course meant that Tony practically had a degree in zoology so he could answer any question his little Goodall could come up with. It was his favorite because Harry had turned around to ask him yet another question about goat he was feeding when said animal licked his from jaw to temple. Harry looked thrilled at the development, shouting about how much the goat liked him. Tony had of course gotten the entire thing on video and had frames taken to print and everything.

There were now three more people who his son could manipulate with his big doe eyes alone. He knew exactly what he was doing and nothing would ever convince Tony different. Harry would grow up to rule the world, Tony was so proud. Harry was just as smart as his father, even if he didn’t flaunt it in the same way. He was mostly quiet, always watching, and knew what to do to get what he wanted. He took to school very well, even if he didn’t click with the other children given how reserved he was most of the time. He loved learning though, mostly about animals, but he would settle for anything he could get his grubby little hands on.

Tony figured he had a wet science kid on his hands. Which was fine. Engineering was not the be all end all of science; it was simply where he excelled. Maybe Harry would grow up and cure cancer or something. Or have a goat farm. Whatever made him happy. Although with the way he talked about science already Tony didn’t think a simple goat farm would be enough for Harry.

They spent the remainder of the trip looking at pictures of Harry and various animals, then pictures of sleepy Harry, followed by hyper Harry, and more pictures of Harry with animals; there were quite a few of them so he just kept finding more to show around.

He should have Jarvis organize all of them into a virtual scrap book. Maybe label them by genus for Harry who was determined to learn Latin fluidly so he wouldn’t trip up every time he read a new scientific name for an animal. It was an admirable goal and Tony wanted to support Harry in everything so he took it up with him. Sure he knew _relevant_ Latin for scientific purposes, but Harry was suggesting becoming completely literate and Tony was going to be behind him every step of the way. They were about a two months into their Latin lessons and Harry was sucking up his new vocabulary words like a sponge. Tony was guessing another month or two and they’d move up to simple sentences.

For now though he had a bunch of brass to impress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cucciolo-puppy


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disoriented and sick Tony wakes up. Where is he? And why does everything hurt?

_Don’t go daddy_

_Don’t go_

_Don’t_

He woke up with a start; it pulled his chest in a way he was entirely unhappy with. Why the fuck did his chest hurt so much? The pain pulled him under again before he could even think of looking down at where the radiating waves of pure agony were coming from.

_Terror and confusion_

_Tony woke up to shrill screaming that could only be his child, barefoot he took off running next door to Harry’s room not even realizing in his panic that Jarvis had failed to turn on any lights for him. Lit only by moonlight from a shattered window Harry was sitting upright in bed, teary eyed but unharmed which was more than Tony could say for his feet. The dread had faded, there had been visions of masked men breaking in to steal his baby away, even though he and Jarvis had tried so hard to keep him out of the general public’s attention, and slowly they too faded leaving behind the throbbing pain now that Harry was accounted for._

His chest throbbed… no it was his feet, wasn’t it? Cut by broken glass. Or was it his own name that caused him such pain?

_The light switch didn’t work and Jarvis was truly silent for the first time since he was created. Calming Harry down in the dark was difficult, he had been having nightmares of that retched coat closet they had shoved him in but Tony managed somehow while standing over his bed on what he had rightfully assumed to somehow be the remains of the light bulbs; there was also a warm breeze from the broken windows. After his bambino was calm and Tony had shaken out his blankets to be sure there was no glass in his bed and got him back to sleep._

_He limped off to his lab, leaving bloody footprints through the house. He would have to call in the cleaning crew early tomorrow. Tony picked all the tiny shards of glass out of his feet while listening to Jarvis’ take on what had happened and what they could do to prevent it from happening again. Jarvis’ visual and auditory sensors were all fried, along with everything else near Harry._

He felt a jolt of electricity, was Harry upset? He had never felt Harry do anything like that before; he always shorted electronics and broke things. He had never directed it at Tony in any way. He had never made Tony afraid of whatever power he had. There it is again, like a live wire touching his chest.

“Harry, shhhh. so.k.” his throat hurt so much. So did his head. Oh God, did he have a hangover? He would never forgive himself. Come to think of it, absolutely everything hurt. His back felt like it was covered in one big bruise, and his ribcage ached in an indescribably way whenever he took a breath in. Actually he wasn’t getting enough breath, he felt light headed and he couldn’t take a big enough gulp of air. He started to panic and hyperventilate. In no time at all he passed out.

_Varanus komodoensis will give a single bite which delivers a toxin that inhibits clotting and introduces bacteria, then it follows its prey waiting for shock to set in from blood loss and infection. What a horrible way to go, Daddy. Why can’t it just make a quick kill? Everything needs to eat but that’s just cruel._

He felt hot and achy. Where was he? Where was Harry? Tony found the strength to sit up but oh _what a horrible idea that was_. Everything was pain for a moment and he had no breath, before he could actually fall back into unconsciousness again he found the strength to breathe once more.

Now that the entire world, or maybe just his body, was no longer on fire Tony took in his surroundings. The walls were solid stone; in fact it was a cave. Why was he in a cave? He should be at a testing site to give a demonstration of the Jericho missile. And instead he was on a metal table with a thin blanket to cushion him from the unforgiving material. No wonder his back hurt.

He was so dizzy.

Trying to get up was impeded by a bunch of wire attached to his chest. They shouldn’t be there… in fact there were bandages all over his chest. He was about to start pulling when he was interrupted by a voice.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tony had thought he was alone. He must be really out of it because this guy had been right in his line of sight the whole damn time.

“Well, you’re not me. So there,” the man watched as he tore the bandages off his chest. He was going to puke. Oh fuck, what in the name of Nikola Tesla was that? It was _inside_ _him!_ “What the hell did you do to me?”

He had a round hunk of metal attached to a car battery _inside_ his chest cavity. There was still blood crusted around the edges and it was weeping from the jerking movements Tony had been making to force himself into a sitting position. It was also hot to the touch, both his skin and the metal. One from what was probably an infection do to surgery performed in a cave without sterile equipment and the other from Joule heating do to the _battery_ attached to his chest. He would have to work out another solution to whatever that was doing and fast because that thing could not stay, it wasn’t hot enough to burn him but it was definitely going to cause problems being that warm, and the wires attaching the battery were nearly stripped no wonder he felt like he had been shocked.

“I saved your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there is a lot left. Headed for the Atrial Septal,” the man jangled a little glass jar full of bits of metal at Tony until he took it. He stared at it almost blankly; thinking about what a macabre fucked up souvenir that little jar would be to bring home for Harry. The remnants of the bomb that was in his chest, he could put a little red bow on it. Tony thought maybe he should just go back to sleep or pass out again. He touched the metal jutting out of his chest, fever hot, and his vision went fuzzy.

  _Scrambling across the sand to a rock outcropping, hands burning but not as hot as the car two ahead in the caravan aflame and flipped on its side. A thunk and a disturbance in the sand, he has time to recognize his own name before everything goes white._

“So what does that mean for me? I’m no thoracic surgeon, but that doesn’t sound like a great prognosis,” Tony was finally aware enough to begin to take in his situation. It was not good.

“In my village people with this sort of wound are called the walking dead. If you’re wondering, that car battery is hooked up to an electro magnet, at the moment it is keeping the remaining fragments where they are instead of slowly creeping into your heart.”

“Fuck.”

“Yes, quite.”

The man, Ho Yinsen as he introduced himself, informed him they were being held by a terrorist group called The Ten Rings. Great foreboding name, seven out of ten, very mysterious. Tony was absolutely terrified, what if he never saw Harry again? And he hadn’t wanted Tony to go at all. If he got out o- no, _when_ he got out of here, Tony would listen to Harry when he got like that. The only thing he could think of was something magical going on.

Harry had been so _so_ persistent but Tony just brushed him off, adults don’t always know best. Tony had learned that lesson when he was a child himself but apparently the years since then had dulled the experiences and made him forget. He had thought Harry just didn’t understand why he had to go, turned out Tony was the one who didn’t understand why he shouldn’t go.

He would just have to get home to apologies to Harry in person. Looking around, there wasn’t a whole lot to work with; in fact the only thing that might be useful as a weapon was the fire poker. The real problem was that he was unsure he could hold it up, or even stand long enough to acquire it. There was also the matter of the cameras mounted high on the cave walls.

Before any real planning could happen there was shouting in a language he couldn’t even identify let alone understand before Yinsen pulled him up by the elbow and hissed in his ear, “Do as I do, and be quiet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is here! What do you think? Comments are much appreciated and delighted in.  
> Any mention of anything sciency is poorly researched and only probably sounds possible.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More than everything else, Tony is determined to get back home to his baby. He just has to figure out how first. He's a resourceful kind of guy though and he doesn't give up just because he has a whole silverware drawer in his chest being held in place by a car battery.

They wanted him to make them weapons. No, they wanted the Jericho. Tony couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t. That kind of power in the hands of monsters like these would set this little part of the world on fire. It would cause more pain and destruction than he already had, even if he hadn’t known he was doing it at the time. But if he refused they would definitely kill him. He couldn’t do that to Harry. He had promised he would come home and he meant to keep his word.

That meant he had to escape.

He couldn’t do that attached to a battery that was only getting hotter by the day, the corrosion around the cathode was really encouraging him to find a solution as well. These fine people he was currently being held captive by had been so kind and gamely as to supply him with anything he could reasonably ask for when he agreed to build them their missile, this included all manner of missiles and tools. So he was going to build something alright but it certainly wasn’t going to be a Jericho.

They worked day and night. Every moment they were allowed was spent getting the parts they needed from weapons with the word STARK in bold across them. It made his chest tight with rage every time he even looked at his name. Somewhere down the line not everything was going where it was supposed to, when he got out of here he would figure out where that leakage was and he would ruthlessly plug up that hole.

The arc reactor was, by all accounts, unable to be miniaturized; but then Tony had never bothered to put his two cents in on the matter. It was possible. More than just possible, it was _doable._ It was the first step of many to getting him back to Harry. He couldn’t fail.

And just like that, he had done what no one thought possible. An arc reactor no bigger than his fist was right in front of him, giving off enough energy to power his little electro magnet for a hundred years; enough power to help him break out of here.

Yinsen was a fantastic assistant, with his surgeons’ hands; he even had some understanding of engineering despite being a medical doctor. After Yinsen put the fruit of two weeks labor into his chest Tony felt immediately better. No longer was he constantly being electrocuted by the live wires if he moved his chest a certain way. No longer did he have to constantly haul along a fifteen pound battery whenever he moved. And it may have only been psychosomatic but he no longer felt the creeping sensation of dozens of tiny metal shards working their way steadily inward, then again maybe it wasn’t. The point _was_ he felt so much better. Definitely not great, but he wasn’t going to keel over anytime soon… or at least he didn’t feel as if he was, it was probably still a very likely conclusion to his life.

But he couldn’t think like that, he had to get out of here. There was a little boy seven thousand six hundred and thirty nine miles away who was just waiting for him to come home.

_I’ll miss you, and think of you every day._

He would never forget how he just dismissed his topolino’s concerns. Sure, Tony had tried to comfort him, but he didn’t even make an effort to figure out what he was really upset about, just because he was in a hurry. It served him right, being here. It was his fault. If he had listened to Harry, if he had heeded the warnings of his little wizard he could be snuggled up next to his bambino watching nature documentaries right now.

Instead, he was in a cave in the middle of Afghanistan with a piece of revolutionary technology in his chest, trying to escape from a group of terrorists that want him to build them the means to create more terror. This was definitely a low point; which meant there was lots of room for improvement, and he had all the means to make those improvements.

Step two of the plan was much harder than step one. It was easy enough to make the arc reactor and convince a group of men who knew nothing of weapons design that it was in fact an integral part of said weapon, it was an entirely different thing to convince a group of people with eyes he was doing anything other than building a suit of armor to kill and maim while he made his escape from this hell hole.

They only worked on one piece at a time. They never set the pieces next to each other. They tried their best to sit in the blind spots of the cameras. So far, they had not been questioned, their captors were far too trusting.

But then perhaps they thought they had broken Tony's spirit with all the torture sessions. That was also a reasonable conclusion. Tony did his best to act docile. It was agony, and he couldn’t do anything but sit there and let them beat him, he couldn’t help but struggle through the water boarding trying to breathe with his already diminished lung capacity but there wasn’t anything to do. He was already fighting back, they just didn’t know it.

There was no reason for the torture, he had already agreed to build their missile… he wasn’t going to, but he had agreed. They thought he was in the process of doing so. The torture was just to pass the time. For funzies.

He was going to burn them all to the ground with a smile on his face.

Then he was going to go home to his beautiful Tesoro. He was going to find some way to make it up to him too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little interlude with Harry.

Zia Pepper was trying her best to mother Harry into a food coma. Daddy had been gone for a whole day before she realized how sure he was that his dad wasn’t coming back in two days like they all said. He knew it would be months and he didn’t want to be away from him for that long.

Whenever he tried to tell someone how they should make his daddy come home they would just try and explain how ‘adults have responsibilities’ like Harry didn’t know that, or ‘he has to do his part protecting our troops’ or any of a dozen other platitudes. It wasn’t like Harry didn’t understand what a job was, he may be eight but he was the son of Tony Stark and he was just as smart.

The thing was, he _knew_ his dad wouldn’t be back any time soon. It was just… he couldn’t figure out how he knew. It was like a voice whispering at the back of his head, a thought that he couldn’t quite grasp onto and see but the feeling behind it was there; the aching sadness of loss tinged with fear whenever he thought about it. How do you describe that to someone else when you didn’t understand it yourself?

 He couldn’t and because of that he couldn’t convince anyone, let along his father, that he shouldn’t go on that trip. Now Dad was missing and who knows how long he would have to wait to see his daddy again. It had already been almost a week since Zio Rhodey lost his daddy and Harry didn’t think he was going to be found any time soon. He tried not to be angry at Zio Rhodey, but it was very hard. The man was a soldier, he should have protected his dad.

So here they were, about to slip into food comas, well sugar coma technically, but candy was a food… sort of. Harry sucked on sour warheads and couldn’t stop thinking about dark dank caves and hot sand and determination. It didn’t matter how long it would take, his daddy would be back. Harry knew it like he knew the earth was round and objects fell at 9.8 meters per second squared while you were on it, these were just incontrovertible facts of the universe. Zia Pepper didn’t seem half so confident but she hid it well behind here reporters smile.

“He’ll come back, Zia. I promise.” There was no other option. His dad would be back when he could, and not a moment later.

“Oh, Harry, I'm the one who’s supposed to be comforting you… and of course he’ll come back, your dad is one of the most stubborn men on the planet. There isn’t anything that could keep him away from you,” she was the one who said it but Zia Pepper looked like she was trying to believe it but it wasn’t working. “How about pizza for dinner, then ice cream?”

Harry nodded and thought of screaming and guttural languages that he couldn’t understand; metal on metal, explosions, and sweat. There was nothing that would keep his dad away _forever,_ but for a time…

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepper's entire strategy when dealing with children is food based, she never told Tony but she has no idea how to deal with children. It is a huge relief to her that Harry is smart and mature for his age or she wouldn't know what to do with him at all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony makes his escape.

There was no time for sleep; there was no time for anything.  His hands were covered in cuts; his body ached like one giant bruise. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw Harry’s tear filled face begging him not to go. Harry had known. Thinking back on it, there were other times when Harry had known things he shouldn’t have.

Once Harry told him he didn’t want to play on the monkey bars at his favorite park, they were his favorite thing right up until that moment. When he asked why, Harry told him someone was going to fall and break an arm. Tony assumed at the time he meant Harry was afraid of that happening to him. Just as they were leaving Tony watched a child trying to walk across the top take a swan dive and land on his arm. That was a weird coincidence. One of many weird coincidences.

There was that time he ran into Tony's room from a nightmare, describing how there had been a car wreck, how the man hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt and flew through the windshield and ended up getting hit by another car.

Tony had assumed his son had seen a report about it on the news, they had been visiting in Obi’s office the day before and that man never turned the news stations off even if he wasn’t actively watching it. So, Harry had sat, bored out of his mind watching the news while Tony finished going over plans and release dates with Obi. At the time Tony thought nothing of the fact that he hadn’t heard anything about that particular accident until the next day, but now he was wondering.

That nightmare stayed for weeks, but the worst was one about monsters rampaging through New York. Harry described it in vivid bloody detail, and Tony still hasn’t figured out what movie who let him watch. Whoever it was had better hope he never does because it was still in the nightmare rotation, his son was apparently very susceptible to media. Sometimes the dream got switched up, Captain America or one of a half dozen super heroes that Harry made up would come and save the day but the killing and gore was still disturbing to hear about from a child.

Now wasn’t the time to think of Harry and his maybe prophetic dreams and hopefully movie based nightmares, he had a project to finish. They were so close. It had to have been almost three months they’ve been working at this and their jailors still didn’t try to stop them or question whether or not they were really making what _they_ wanted made.

Of course that was the exact moment when everything went sideways. The lead terrorist, whatever his name was, Mr. you’re-the-greatest-thing-since-arrows-were-invented had decided that they should be done. Now. That pushed their time window up quite a bit. Tony had estimated two more days. Now was going to have to do.

They rigged the door with explosives to give themselves that little extra bit of time. It kind of blew up in their faces a bit. They weren’t ready. The suit needed more time. There was screaming and explosions. Yinsen didn’t follow the plan, what was he even going to do with a gun? The man was a doctor and a pacifist. Ho ran out the door, screaming and shooting into the ceiling which caused little flakes of rock and dust to rain down. He kept going until Tony couldn’t hear him anymore. The computer said there was still ten percent to go.

They were both supposed to get back to their families. What was that man doing? He was going to get himself killed.

Once the shitty computer was done Tony raced as fast as he could in half a ton of metal. The flame throwers worked like a beauty. The smell of burning flesh was not something he considered when he put them in. The screaming he thought of, but oh god the smell.

There was Ho Yinsen, at the mouth of the cave. He was bleeding.

“This wasn’t part of the plan!”

“This was always the plan, Stark.” Yinsen’s lips were white, he was losing too much blood. It was a belly wound.

“We have to get out of here, get you back to your family.”

“My family is dead, I am going to be with them now. You are the man with everything, Tony Stark. Don’t forget which parts are important. Get back to that little boy of yours.”

 Yinsen was dead. Fuck.

The terrorists were also dead but that was a win.

The part if the plan Tony didn’t think of was what he would do after he blew up the terrorist’s base was how to get home. Or anywhere really. When he blew up the base he also blew up all of the vehicles at the base… Add onto that the sweltering metal he was incased in while standing in the middle of a baking desert in the middle of the day, it wasn’t his best plan. He could only hope that the explosion was visible enough to get the US militaries attention.

He just wanted to go home.

He just wanted Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. Does posting them back to back make it any better?  
> They just seemed like natural stopping points. The next chapter will be longer if it's any consolation... you know when I actually write it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is finally going home. Just as soon as he can get his jet in the air.

The thrumming engine and thumping of the rotor blades were almost as calming as Rhodey’s arm across his shoulders. It was also blessedly cool in the cabin. He had been burning up even after he pulled the last of the metal suit off of himself. His explosion was apparently enough to get the attention of his Honey Bear, who had never stopped looking, who was ok, who was so comfortable to lean on.

For a long while he just zoned out, Rhodey would take care of everything. Rhodey was the best. He told him everything he needed to know right then without even being asked and spoke of nothing that was unimportant.

“Harry’s doing ok; the kid was positive that you would be back soon. I guess I need him to start pi cking my lotto numbers.” Yeah, Tony was going to have to have Jarvis through every recording and record he had to see _just how often_ Harry was right.

“Pepper has been trying to distract him with food and candy since you left, it was only Happy’s steadying hand that kept you from coming back to a beach ball of a son.” That sounded just like Pepper, he was hoping she figured out some other way to deal with kids, especially considering she had one living with her for three months. At least Happy stepped up. Maybe he would even stop pussyfooting around and ask Pepper on a proper date, one without an eight year old.

 Bottle after bottle of Gatorade was pressed into his hands. Tony was about ready to take it back, Rhodey was well aware of how much Tony hated Gatorade. He was the worst.

“Come on man, don’t give me that look. I know, but you need to get some fluid in you. How long were you out in the sun?” it was a question that Tony had heard a dozen times from Mama Rhodes. If he had the energy to mock Rhodey, he would be so there right now. He’d remember it for later.

 “Don’t know, couple of hours. Maybe three?” it was hard to keep track, sure he could see the sun making steady progress across the sky but he might have dozed lightly on his feet for a while. All he knew was he got his fair share of sunshine for the year.

“Yeah, you look like hell and I think maybe sun poisoning is the least of it. Have a granola bar and sleep for a while. I’ll wake you when we get back to the base.” Tony accepted the granola bar only because he was hungry and that meant he wouldn’t have to drink any more Gatorade.

He was also tired enough to fall asleep against his Honey Bear’s shoulder. It was the best sleep he’d had in three months. There were no dreams, he was full and comfortable enough, but mostly he felt safe. It was amazing right up until Rhodey woke him up again. To be fair, he was trying to lift Tony and carry him off the helicopter, but Tony was in no mood to give anyone any slack after being woken up from the best nap ever.

 Eventually he was set down in a bed that was less comfortable than Rhodey’s Kevlar covered shoulder and a helicopter seat. By that he meant the bed must have been made of rocks. Well no, he’d been sleeping on a blanket laid across rock for about three months… this was only marginally better.

They were trying to get him to stay in their medical for who knew how long. It was definitely not going to happen. Even if there was no one waiting for him back in Malibu he would be on that plane as fast as humanly possible. As there was in fact a small boy waiting for him Tony was contemplating buying one of the military jets so he wouldn’t have to wait for his plane to get there.

“Just a day or two, let them check you over. Let yourself rest. Tony, please.” Rhodey should know by now that he had the worst puppy dog eyes in the world. They did noting. Besides, compared to Harry's, that might as well be Rhodey’s regular face because it wasn’t going to sway Tony to do anything.

“Hmm… That doesn’t sound like me, gum drop. I think I'm going to get on my private jet just as soon as it arrives. You can be on that jet with me or you can stay here. I'm going home to see Harry. If the army doctors are so strapped for patients, I'm sure the locals would welcome some free medical treatment. They’re certainly not getting a look at me, they couldn’t afford it.” There was no way he was letting those quacks, whoever they may be, poke at his newest technological marvel and fuck it up. He had to make a new one, a better and less fragile one, asap.

“First of all, this is an Air Force base, not Army, and I'm _so sure_ you know that. Second, it wouldn’t kill you to at least let them look.” There was no telling with this thing in his chest, they could tap it wrong and, poof, lights out and Tony's out like a light. So yeah, it just might kill him. He didn’t want to tell Rhodey that when he was in full mother hen mode though. Or ever really.

“Nope, no can do, Jim Jam! Gotta get back!” He threw in a little snapping because that always got to him real quick.

“Tony annoying me isn’t going to make me forget that you need to see a doctor. You do know that right?” It was a fool proof method and had worked on multiple occasions, there was absolutely no data saying it wouldn’t work this time. Besides, nothing got Rhodey more riled up than calling him Jim Jam. Oh how he hated it. It was almost as good as calling Pepper Ginny. She usually started at murderous and worked up from there. Tony was sure genocide would be the end result; if anyone could stay alive long enough to call her Ginny twice.

Tony didn’t need to further annoy Rhodey though; there was something to be said about the expedience of being a billionaire. The jet had gotten there in just under three hours; Pep might think it particularly frivolous but having many jets meant that he could have one wherever he might need it in a short amount of time.

Twenty minutes to fuel up and do systems checks and he would be that much closer to home. Just one more day.

“Where did you even get a phone to call for a jet? Tony you need to rest.” It was like the man had no faith in him, as if he couldn’t pickpocket a cell phone out of his best friends pocket while giving him a ‘thank god you’re alive’ hug. The first of many Tony was sure, Rhodey like to hug it out.

“It’s like twenty hours to Malibu. I will sleep on the way. I _need to go home_ , Rhodey.” There was no argument. Nothing Rhodey said would change his mind. Nothing he could do but bodily keep Tony here, and that would only work for so long.

“Fine, just let me grab my things. I'm technically on leave right now; apparently I was useless for anything but finding you. I've still got some time.”

“I knew you’d see it my way, sour patch!”

“I'm so glad you’re ok,” Oh no, that looked like a tearful moment about to happen. Tony went in for the inevitable hug just to get it over with. It’s not like he really wanted a Honey Bear hug right then or anything. He was just succumbing to the inevitable.

“Yeah, me too.” Tony wouldn’t admit it even to himself, but he had been terrified that when he did escape he would find out Rhodey had been dead the entire time he was captured. That Rhodey had died in the initial fire fight, or afterwards while he tried to find Tony. There was no doubt that he _would_ try to find Tony and terrorists don’t fuck around.

“Sit tight, Tones. I’ll be back.”

Instead of sitting tight Tony wandered his way across the airfield to his jet that was getting prepped for the next leg of the flight. They would probably layover in Japan or China for another refuel.

Sitting on the plane was way more comfortable than sitting on a hot bench watching the air strip, there was the added benefit of the tablets that Tony made a standard feature in every one of his vehicles. Way better than Rhodey’s pilfered phone which had none of his personal settings. He was sure Rhodey would figure out where his phone was eventually, or at the very latest when Tony gave it back.

He started a set of texts with Pepper. There were things that he had to get set up now, because after he got home he was going to be on Harrytime.

 ** _Pepper! Guess who isn’t currently being held prisoner by terrorists!_** That was such a nice thing to be able to say, he had never even considered it before but it was definitely one of his favorite phrases at the moment.

_ OHGODTONY! Is it really you? _

**_Is James Rupert Rhodes really the biggest mother hen in the entire world?_ **

_Yeah. It’s you._ Tony knew she was amused. He was hilarious. Also Rhodey was turning into his mother as he aged, and mama Rhodes was… overbearing was a harsh word but she was definitely a helicopter parent.

 _Oh thank god you’re ok Tony! You are ok, aren’t you? I can’t wait to tell Harry. He’s been telling us you’ll be home any day now for a week._ It was good to know that what every powers of foresight his son had he didn’t know everything. He would hate if Harry had seen what actually went on in that cave, or what went on as he made his escape.

 ** _I'm fine, Pep. Wait a little while on telling Harry, wheels up in ten, he’s only going to want to see me as soon as he finds out I'm coming home and I need you to set up some things for me._** Harry would make Pepper getting literally anything done impossible if he knew. Tony felt terrible about it but he was going to give Harry all of his attention when he was actually there, and besides the anticipation would probably be awful. Harry hated waiting just as much as Tony did.

 _Whatever you need Tony._ Pepper was the best; screw Rhodey and his fucking Gatorade.

 ** _I need a press conference scheduled for next week. Full circus. I also need you to set up a team of investigators for the company. Discreet ones. And maybe a full in depth audit to help keep attention away from the investigators._** He was going to get to the bottom of absolutely everything, and after he found the bottom he was going to turn it on its head. Nobody was going to know what hit them.

_ Tony? _

**_I’ll tell you when I can sit next to you. For now just get this done. Please Pep._** She would definitely need some comfort when he told her the whole story. She would probably cry too, Tony hated it when people cry. There were going to be a lot of tears in the near future though, it was a guarantee, no questionably prophetic children necessary.

_ Ok Tony. I’m glad you’re safe. _

Having finished all of the tasks he set for himself, Tony found that he was at a loss. What should he do now? He had to do something. Right?

When Rhodey finally came back with his duffel bag Tony was still staring blankly at the dark tablet wondering what he should do until he could get home and enact his next move. Until he could see Harry.

“Tony? Hey, Tony talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?” he sounded frantic, it was a voice Tony hadn’t heard since he was a young stupid twenty year old experimenting with drugs to numb the pain. It didn’t work how he though it should so he went back to alcohol which had the fringe benefit of making Rhodey less twitchy. That man had put up with too much shit from Tony…. What was he thinking about? “Tony!”

Right, panicked Rhodey bear.

“I am fine. Would you relax?”

“Were you just sleeping with your eyes open or something? That was so fucking scary. Never do that again.” Really, if anyone should be hysterical right now, Tony was pretty sure he had the monopoly on that emotion. Well, him or the eight year old. They could take turns.

“I was just thinking; now calm your shit Mama Rhodey.”

“Could you not call me that again, thanks.” His nose scrunched up and it was hilarious, Tony was sure, it just didn’t feel funny right now. Everything was so tiring, even witty quips, his life blood and butter. Ok, wow he really needed to go to sleep.

“Maybe you should stop _hovering_ then.” Tony was perhaps a little touchy now, but he just realized he really wants to go to sleep. Rhodey backed off a bit though so Tony took the opportunity to lie across the couch; it was a thousand times more comfortable than that stupid hospital bed.

He would wake up when they got home. He had to be awake to see Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _was _going to make one ridiculously long chapter but this was a good place to stop. That means I do actually know how the next little bit is going to go._  
>  Thanks for all the great ideas in the comments! I can't wait till I get there. Not yet though, first onto the Iron man story arc!_
> 
> _I cant believe I got three chapters done day, even if the first two only really count as one if you squish them together. The point is I haven't forgotten about this fic._


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions and some tears. Tony is going to make sure he takes care of himself so he can take care of Harry.

_The walls were so close, shrinking in on him with every breath. Everything was dark and damp. Everything hurt. He had to get to Harry. He had to get home._

_“Hello? Please, Rhodey? Somebody, anybody, I need to go home!” His breath was stuck in his lungs; he was being squeezed into the tiny room._

_But no, this is where he left Harry. For years and years, Harry was alone and scared and helpless. Why should Tony have any right to leave when Harry couldn’t? Here he was terrified and whining for it all to stop but he left Harry to the very same fate._

_This was nothing more than he deserved._

_The world started quaking around him._

“Tony!” someone was shaking him and shouting. Tony held in the scream of fear but only by the thread of his screws.

It was just Rhodey, he looked a little freaked out himself but it was Rhodey. There was no reason to be afraid of Rhodey, if only his stupid heart would get the message and calm the fuck down. He would hate to get this close to surviving Afghanistan and then die on the plane trip back.

“What? I’m awake, stop shaking me. Why did you wake me up?”

“You were having a nightmare. Are you- of course you’re not ok. Tell me how I can help.” Damn that man and his honest sincerity. How was Tony supposed to make light of everything if he was always so earnest about Tony's health?

“Just sit here next to me. Maybe let me lean on you a bit?”

“Any time, man. You know that right?” he was pulled into the comforting embrace of his best friend in the world. There was nowhere that felt safer.

“Yeah Honey Bear, I know. How much longer till were there?”

“Only another hour. I already talked to Pepper, she and Happy are going to meet us at the airstrip with Harry. Apparently when she went to tell him he was already waiting at the door with her purse, ready to go. The kid’s psychic I swear.”

Tony hummed in response; he didn’t have anything to say to that. He was pretty sure Rhodey was one hundred percent correct, even if _he_ thought he was just joking. There were probably no parenting books on how to deal with precognitive children. Well… maybe if he could find this ‘wizarding world’ they would have some.

He pulled out Rhodey’s phone to pass the time, ignoring the ‘hey’ as Rhodey figured out where his phone had run off to.

**_Alright J, talk to me. What did I miss while I was gone?_ **

Welcome back, Sir.

There have been three attempts at hostile take overs. None were even mildly successful. 

The stocks have dropped by twenty three points despite Mr. Stane’s best efforts.

Harry has grown one and one quarter inches and gained another three pounds ten ounces, the weight gain can contributed to the fact that _‘He is a growing boy, Jarvis. Stop worrying!_ ’ he was going to have to keep Pepper far away from Harry for a while, at least until he could break her of giving him candy every single moment of every day.

**_Yeah, that’s about what I figured. How are the bots doing?_ **

They are doing as well as can be expected. The lab is meticulously clean. Tony really doubted that.

Jarvis kept him distracted until they _finally_ landed. If he had to be cooped up on this stupid jet for one more minute he was going to go insane! He was bouncing in his seat by the time they finally came to a full stop, a look out the window was disappointing because Pepper wasn’t there with Harry yet. Of course she wasn’t, they had only just landed. It was still unacceptable.

Tony was about ready to break the door down himself by the time he was let out. It was nice to be on American soil again. He was going to go ahead and not go abroad any time soon. If he had any energy to spare, Tony was sure he would be pacing the tarmac in anticipation. As it was he leaned against Rhodey so he didn’t take a tumble and fall on his face or anything like that.

“Would you relax? They’re probably just waiting for permission to drive up here.” Rhodey could be as calm as he liked, Tony was going to go for the anxious, nervous, and twitchy look thanks.

 _Finally_ he could see Happy driving up in a limo. Tony should have brought presents! Actually never mind, the thought of a glass jar filled with bits of metal made him far less inclined to bring back gifts from war torn countries. It’s bad enough that he brought back enough shrapnel for himself. Thank god he didn’t do regular air travel. It would be really awkward to explain why his chest was setting off metal detectors, ‘No TSA officer, that’s not a bomb embedded in my chest. It’s keeping me alive.’

While he was distracted Happy managed to stop the car before Harry all but leapt out of it.

“Daddy!” it was the only warning he got before his middle was covered in limpet.

“It’s so good to see you Tesoro. I’m so sorry.” Tony bent down to pick up his baby but found that he didn’t have the strength at the moment. The fear that he wouldn’t be able to at all anymore was enough to make his eyes prickle. What if he couldn’t do any if the things he loved anymore?

He knew the reactor pressed against his lung, making breathing more difficult. He definitely wouldn’t be doing any aerobics any time soon. What else would this force him to give up? Not that he had ever liked or wanted to do aerobics, but the _option_ had always been there. And now it wasn’t.

“Let’s go home, back in the car Bambino.” He settled into the back, leaving everyone else to figure everything else out. Harry sat in his lap and in that moment he knew he would do it all over again to make sure he got back to this. “Come on, Seat belt. Just because I’ve been gone doesn’t mean you’re not going to be safe.” He scooted Harry out of his lap even though that’s exactly where he wanted him to be and clicked him in.

“I missed you so much, Daddy. I thought of you every day. I knew you would come back,” Harry clung to his arm but that was fine. Better than fine. God, look how much bigger his baby had gotten. He had missed three more months of Harry’s life. That wasn’t fair.

“I'm so sorry baby. So sorry,” He pulled Harry just as close as he could, delighting in having him in his arms again. He was maybe a little more moist in the eyes than he wanted to admit but he thought it was allowed when reuniting with your child.

Rhodey and Pepper slid into the other side of the limo and Happy smoothly set off for his mansion. Tony realized that he hadn’t even said hello to Pepper or Happy. They would probably forgive him.

“Hey Pep. Long time no see.” He gave her a little smile. It was apparently too much for her though, because she burst into tears. Tony was not going to be the one to deal with that. First of all he was in the wrong seat to offer her any comfort at all, secondly he had an eight year old who also needed comfort, arguably more than she did. He motioned Rhodey to do something even though he was no better at dealing with crying women.

Very hesitantly Rhodey put an arm around Pepper’s shoulders, it looked like he was waiting for her to go off like a bomb.

_STARK_

_A flash of white_

_Searing pain_

Ok, So don’t think about things that go boom anymore. Bad thoughts. Don’t have a panic attack right now. Calm. Harry is right here. You’re ok. He’s ok.

Tony took a shaky breath.

Wow, yeah that was almost terrible. But he had a lid on it. For right this second. Tony was going to do something he had never thought he would. As soon as possible he was going to make an appointment with a psychiatrist because _this_ could not happen again. He couldn’t even imagine what it would have done to Harry to watch him have a panic attack.

Once Tony clawed his way back to the forefront of his brain enough to become aware of the world around him again, Rhodey had calmed Pepper down. Neither of them seem to have noticed that Tony had been on the precipice of a panic attack.

“Sorry, I'm just so glad you’re ok.” Her eyes were still puffy and red rimmed but she smiled sweetly at him.It was nice to know people care, Tony thought he was far from ok though.

“Yeah Pep, I'm pretty happy about it myself. Hey, what do you say we stop for burgers before we go home? I could really go for a good old fashioned American cheeseburger.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like things are chugging along so slowly, like I keep writing filler chapters instead of the interesting ones I _really _want to get to. but I need the exposition first! it's all very frustrating. Next chapter Tony starts working on the Iron Man mark 2 I think.__


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony contemplates his sanity and whether Harry would be safer if his father had a suit of flying armor.

"God what am I even doing?” Jarvis didn’t bother to answer but Dum-E tilted his camera towards him hoping for some attention, “I mean I'm sitting here in my basement making a flying metal suit while my eight year old is upstairs in his bed," Tony raked a hand through his hair in frustration.

 The stress ball Dum-E sat next to him on the table was a great idea; he threw it and watched Dum-E skid off as fast as his wheels would take him. The dumb bot clipped a table and knocked a socket wrench set to the floor with a clatter, sending sockets flying every which way. U and Butterfingers would have a field day fining all of them and organizing them by size again.

He was less distracted by Dum-E’s antics than the bot would have liked. Instead he was stuck in his thoughts and they were all so at odds, he kept coming back to the notion, _‘Wouldn’t Harry be safer if I had a metal suit to protect him with?’_ Then he’d realize how incredibly _insane_ he sounded and check the planner that Pepper kept for him to see how much longer until his first appointment with the head shrink. Just two more days. It seemed not even Tony Stark could make a psychiatrist appointment on such short notice… at least not with one up to ~~his~~ Pepper’s standards.

Even if he acknowledged that he sounded like a mad man, that wasn’t enough to deter him from the glove he was working on- no that sounds dumb. Why not go old school, call it a fucking gauntlet. Harry sure would get a kick out of the imagery.

Tony was proud to say he hadn’t spent the last three days since returning to the states locked down in his lab. He would make breakfast for himself and Harry, wave him out the door with happy to go to school, and then spend the morning trying to work out where the leak in his company was. Pepper was a god sent, he had always thought so but lately she was trying to remind him as often as she could. She was taking care of all the paperwork so Tony could focus on where the money was changing hands, who was there, and when the weapons were being given to terrorists. Whoever it was they were good, but no match for a determined Tony Stark as they would soon find out. He could feel it, he was getting close. He would chase digital leads until Harry returned to him in the afternoon, after that he was on Harrytime until bed.

He was less proud to say that whenever Harry was asleep Tony was working nonstop. The last two nights were devoted to making a more efficient Arc Reactor. Bless Pepper and her endless patience; she had put it in after breakfast, while Harry was safely on his way to school and had no chance of walking in on that particular horror show. He had asked Jarvis to order the prettiest pair of stilettos he could find as a thank you.

 Tonight though, with his new reactor securely in his chest, he turned his thoughts to the design that had become his salvation in the desert. It could arguably be called an obsession.

“Actually Sir, your eight year old is not currently in his bed,” the mere thought nearly gave him a heart attack, Tony could imagine a dozen frightful scenarios for where Harry could have been before the AI could finish his sentence, “but attempting to forage in the kitchen. Adult supervision is suggested,” it wasn’t a kidnapping but it still needed to be stopped.

“What? No! It has to be three am; no way is he having anything now. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He was out of his hunch and up the stairs before he was done talking, gauntlet discarded wherever it had dropped.

What if Harry cut himself?

What if he set the kitchen on fire?

“It has only just occurred Sir. Unlike your other progeny I do not possess precognition,” Jarvis, the cheeky brat, had run the numbers on how often Harry's predictions came true on that first night Tony got back and the percentage was staggering.

Tony skidded around the corner into the kitchen; he was envisioning blood and destruction, but it was far less terrible than all that. A plate of cookies was not the best of three am snacks for growing boys but it wasn’t the end of the world, Tony needed a minute to calm his racing heart after his mind ran away with it.

“Dad?” the muffled voice brought him back to the real world where his son was very subtly trying to eat as many cookies as he could before he was stopped, sensing the end was near. Pepper had truly created a monster.

“Harry, what are you doing up? You have school in the morning,” and he would be going to school come hell or high water. The most important thing to give Harry right now was consistency.

“It’s Friday!” he shouted with his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk full of chocolate chip cookie, a spray of crumbs flew across the table and disappeared into the dimness created by the only light in the room turned on, peeking out from under the microwave.

“Yes, three twenty five Friday morning, you have school in less than five hours. And, don’t talk with your mouth full,” oh god, he couldn’t let Rhodey hear him say that, now Tony was the one sounding like Mama Rhodes. He’d never live it down!

It looked like Harry took that as an invitation to have more cookies as long as he didn’t speak. Who knew how many he had eaten already, if he didn’t have a stomach ache by morning Tony would be surprised.

Pepper had probably stocked the house with nothing but sweets, it would take Tony forever to find them all and make sure they were unreachable by grubby little hands, “I’ll take those, thanks,” he probably shouldn’t be having three am cookies either but they were there and they were the squishy kind. Besides it’s not like he was going to be giving Harry ideas, that was Pepper’s department.

“What are you doing up kiddo?” Tony asked while pouring a glass of milk for them to share. He handed it off after washing down what he had silently promised to be his only cookie. Harry drank the rest of the glass and it made Tony think of that book If You give a Mouse a Cookie. Next he was going to need to go to the bathroom and then the next thing until Harry tried to convince him that he wasn’t even tired anymore and should be allowed to stay up all night.

“I had a bad dream,” that was enough to keep anyone up, it was excuse enough for Tony that’s for sure. He had no clue if Harry meant a nightmare or if his son was having visions in his sleep though.

“What was it about? Can I make it better?” If it really was a vision could Tony do anything about it? Can one affect a prognostication? Or is it set in stone, once it is seen it will happen? The burning urge to go try and find the wizarding world was almost enough to overpower the burning of his eyes begging him to sleep.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Can I go back to bed now?” Tony didn’t know what he could do for Harry without hearing what he was afraid of but it was late and the problem would be there in the morning. As would the empty glass and plate of crumbs he left in the sink.

“Sure Topolino, let’s get you tucked in,” those nights spent stooped over his work bench suddenly seemed so much longer, maybe he would get a few hours in himself. He could try at least.

Tony followed Harry back to his bedroom, trying to resist reaching out to smooth down the absurd volume half his son’s hair had. The other half was nearly flattened to the boy’s head; it was the most charming bed head he’d ever seen. It might be time for a hair cut though.

Harry climbed up onto his bed and snuggled under the covers, before popping his head back out again, “Can you leave the door open? I don’t want to go to sleep in the dark. Please?” He even broke out the puppy eyes, like Tony would say no.

“Hey, of course I can. But you’ve haven’t needed your nightlight in more than a year,” And what a miracle that was, after his time with _those people_ Tony wasn’t sure he would ever be over his fear of the dark _,_ “Where’s this coming from cucciolo?”

“I just want the light on is all,” his son sounded extra crabby; which made a lot of sense, he was tired, full of sugar, and trying to deal with Tony's return from captivity. Add on top of that possible visions and you had one very grumpy child.

“Ok. That’s fine. You know you can talk to me, right Harry. No matter what, I’ll listen. That’s a promise.”

“Thanks Dad, I know,” Tony really hoped he did. He hoped Harry would come to him again, even when he didn’t listen last time. That wouldn’t happen again. They would have to sit down and have a talk about Tony taking Harry more seriously and Harry trying to be more clear, but not tonight.

He watched as Harry drifted off, thinking about how precious his munchkin was. He had almost left Harry orphaned. He could have died and then Harry would be all alone… well he would have Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey but they were no substitute for his dad. Tony would have to make sure that never happened again. He would have to be better. Stronger.

But that was a problem for tomorrow too. He had a lot of those at the moment.

Tony dropped one last kiss on Harry's head before backing out into the hall. The door was left cracked as promised; he would have to dig up the old nightlight tomorrow just to be on the safe side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have been under the misconception that I was dead, well I fooled you good didn't I? I also didn't forget about this story. Surprise!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late night snacks make for crabby children and tony has to get one such child ready for school.

Tony woke up to a chirp from Jarvis via the tablet next to his bed. Whatever time it was had to be too early. Maybe he would just roll over and ignore the world for another hour. He deserved another hour of sleep damn it.

Jarvis was mean though and started up a truly vibration on the tablet that made it skitter across the nightstand.  He reached out for it blindly, not willing to be fully conscious yet but also wishing more than anything for that to stop. As soon as Tony got his hand around the tablet it stopped its pulsating; he knew Jarvis would just start it up again if he tried to ignore it, tempting as that may be.

 The screen popped up a with a video feed of the living room showing him that Obi had let himself in; he must be back from New York finally. Tony hadn’t heard a peep from the man since he got back from his captivity.

Tony almost went back to sleep but then he spotted that it was seven thirty already. He would have to get Harry up and ready for school, he groaned because that was going to be a nightmarish ordeal. On the plus side he had a solid four hours under his belt, even if he didn’t really remember getting into bed.

The blanket stayed firmly around Tony's shoulders and nobody would be able to part him from it, he wanted to keep its warmth and comfort for as long as possible. He shuffled into his slippers that had become a habit ever since that first time Harry shattered glass all over the hall way, he hated picking glass out of his feet so it was a firm rule that everyone wore shoes or slippers unless they were in bed. The last thing he wanted was to pick glass out of _Harry's feet._

Obadiah must have wandered into the kitchen or something so Tony didn’t see him while he shambled off to wake Harry up. It was fine, Obi knew where everything was, he could help himself to whatever he wanted. If Tony were lucky maybe he would even start a pot of coffee.

Harry's room was filled with morning light; Jarvis must have raised the shades. It was a valiant attempt but that wouldn’t be enough to stop _his_ son from sleeping the morning away, “Up and at ‘em atom ant!” The only response was the covers shifting higher, not even a grunt. He pulled at the quilt trying to bring it down enough to see Harry's face but instead he started a game of tug of war.

“Nooooo!” Came a muffled grumble, the lump that made the covers started rolling like a crocodile with an antelope’s leg in its jaws, trying to keep a grip on it with everything he had. Tony couldn’t keep in the laugh that bubbled forth at the inch worm made of sleepy child. It was startling to realize that it was the first time he had really laughed since he left for Afghanistan three months ago. He felt just a little lighter, as he had always thought Harry was the best thing for his health.

“Come on crabby patty, you have to get ready for school. Up up up!" He shouted at his unmoving blob. He was met with an unhappy wordless shrieking. Unwinding sixty pound of hissy fit wasn’t easy but it needed to be done, sadly he lost his own blanket in the fight, “Up I say! Up!”

Once he had released his son from the blanket separating him from the world Tony carried him to the bathroom and put his toothbrush in one tiny uncooperative hand, “You start brushing, I’ll start pancakes. If you’re not dressed and in the kitchen in fifteen minutes I'm coming back for you,” Tony promised.

Harry grunted in acknowledgement, not yet ready for words.  He left his sleepy ragamuffin to get ready and hoped he wouldn’t have to drag the kid out of bed a second time. Getting Harry ready for school would be so much easier if it didn’t start at eight in the morning.

Tony trundled back down the hall, not bothering to retrieve his blanket. He had too much to do today to be sleepy any longer. Pepper would probably be by in another hour so he had to be awake and ready to work. That meant he had to have Harry fed and off to school. That meant pancakes and scrambled eggs.

The mix was still where he left it months ago, he assumed it didn’t go bad or at least Pepper would have gotten him a new one if it did, she was good like that. Rhodey would argue that box mix was cheating but Tony never saw _him_ in their kitchen making pancakes from scratch at seven in the morning so he could suck it.

As Tony was cracking eggs into a bowl he suddenly remembered that Obi was somewhere in the house… ok actually he had the shit scared out of him when someone unexpectedly started talking. Potato patatto. “It’s good to see you all in one piece Tony. We were all so worried,” The egg shell he just crushed into the bowl would probably be unnoticeable; he’d just pick the big pieces out. Problem solved.

“Hey Obi,” He tried to subtly wipe the egg off his hand on the edge of the bowl; he was pretty sure Obi saw the whole thing go down.  He decided to admit defeat and just wash his hands. Maybe it was time for a new bowl too… “So how was New York? It seems like you’ve been making a lot of trips back east lately.”

“I’ve been working on a new contract. I think it’s going rather well,” He almost always said that, even if it wasn’t really going rather well, “What have you been up to since you got back? I figured you’d be a little more active in the media, I'm sure you’ve got reporters all but banging down your door,” Obi looked up from his paper to show that he was really interested in the answer.

“Well I’m sure you’re right, but Pepper’s fielding all my calls right now,” Like she doesn’t do that usually, “So I have very little idea what they’re doing. I’ve been spending time with Harry; the reporters can wait for the press conference Pepper announced for Monday morning.”

Tony was trying to keep the fact that he was going through the company with a fine toothed comb as quiet as possible so for now it was just him, Jarvis, and Pepper. Pepper was a necessity because she was keeping his days free to get to the bottom of it, even helping where she could. She had been in their accounting department before he snatched her up after all, one of the best decisions he ever made.

Tony was shaken out of his thoughts when Harry dragged his feet into the room and flopped down in a chair. Thankfully he was dressed for school, one less battle he had to fight. His bambino looked like he was going to set his head down at the table before he saw Obadiah sitting at the other end with a to-go cup of coffee (very sad that meant Tony would have to start coffee himself) and his morning paper. Suddenly Harry looked wide awake.

“Harry my boy! Good to see you,” Obadiah even put down his paper, a rare occurrence, “Hey, I brought a little something for you and your dad,” he showed off the pizza box that he had in the chair next to him. New York pizza, god that was something he had missed. It was so tempting but the pancakes and eggs were already done so Harry would definitely be eating that instead of pizza, “We’ll save that for dinner. Thanks Obi.”

“Thanks Zio Obi” Harry murmured into his eggs.

“Uncle Obi. We’ve been over this kid. Uncle Obi,” Obadiah is very adamant that he is Uncle Obi as opposed to Zio because ‘That's not even English Tony’ as he’s said on multiple occasions, “He's too young to be learning languages. I mean, you're going to confuse him."

“Obi, I promise he knows English already, he won't somehow forget it if he starts another language. Besides, development specialists agree that languages are best started early,” he could argue this with Obi all day but it wouldn’t get them anywhere. Obadiah was set in his ways and Tony wasn’t going to listen to his outdated views on child rearing so they were at an impasse.

Harry was passable in Italian as an eight year old was expected to be and he was making headway in Latin. Obi couldn’t compete with the world of every case study done on language development in children and Harry's own strides in various languages.

“Call me _Uncle_ Obi,” He persisted one last time, the man always had been a pusher.

“Yes Uncle Obi,” Harry whispered so softly, Tony could see how bitter the word tasted on his tongue. He knew just how much Harry hated the word; they’d had a long conversation about it when Harry started living with him. His child was intensely uncomfortable calling adults by their first names and even more uncomfortable with the terms Aunt and Uncle, so they compromised. The Italian words had the same meaning without the connotation and everything would have been just fine if Obi could just let it go and allow Harry to call him Zio.

Tony hated that, the look on Harry's face, that Obadiah was forcing him to do something he didn’t want, “I think it’s time you left Obi.”

“I wanted to talk to you about what you’re working on next,” Which was interesting when he knew very well that Tony didn’t like to talk about work around Harry.

“Good bye Obi,” Tony held a hand out to show him where the door was.

“Twenty three points Tony. We need something big,” Trying to sway Tony with stock numbers was always the wrong way to go, it had never influenced his decisions before and it wasn’t going to start now.

“ _Goodbye_ Obi,” He said more firmly, finally getting some movement out of the man. Tony followed him to the door, giving one last wave as he watched him go. He was sure it would only be days before Obadiah was back trying to get plans for something big and deadly. Obi didn’t know it yet but he was going to be disappointed, Tony had some big plans for that press conference in a few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll, two chapters in two days! What did you think about Obi? I've never actually written him before so I'd love to hear how i did.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uncle Obi scares me,” this was exactly why he wished Obi weren't so stubborn, now he was scaring Harry.

It was a relief to have Obi gone, Tony loved the man dearly but sometimes (most of the time) he got under Tony's skin until he had to actively think about not grinding his teeth. This was the last time he would hear him try and force Harry to call him uncle though, they’d argued about it before but Tony was done. They would have a nice private chat about how if he couldn’t deal with Harry calling him Zio Obi he would just have to deal with plain old Obi without any honorific at all; if he didn’t like it he just wouldn’t get to see Harry any more until he changed him mind, simple as that.

He marched back into the kitchen, coffee would help calm him down but of course he hadn’t started any yet. He mashed the start button harder than necessary and sat down to have his breakfast, taking a breath to try and calm the anger still simmering anger after dealing with that.

He hoped Harry would be able to calm down before he had to be off to school; he almost didn’t want to send the poor kid, tired after being kept up by nightmares and now being reminded of his old tormentor, his concentration was probably shot to hell.

He tried to eat his eggs before they went completely cold and disgusting but he only had one bite of his sort of rubbery egg before Harry turned to him with a very intent look on his face.

“Uncle Obi scares me,” this was exactly why he wished Obi weren't so stubborn, now he was scaring Harry.

“Do you mean that calling him Uncle makes you uncomfortable? I know that's why we decided on Zia and Zio...” maybe he would just tell Obi that Harry needed a break from him, tell him not to come around for a while. Any interaction Tony _needed_ to have with Obi could happen at the office or over the phone.

“No!” Harry said firmly, “He makes me feel scared _all the time_. He's going to do something bad,” this didn’t sound like bad word association with Vernon Dursley…

Tony's heart sank as he realized this was the moment where his promise had to come into effect. He’d said the next time Harry told him something he was going to listen and he would… But this was not what he had imagined. Not Obi. The man was practically his second father.

But Harry and his feelings had been right last time and apparently a lot of other times that he hadn’t even noticed until he started looking. Damn it, what's to say they weren't right this time? The leak had to be coming from somewhere within the company, somewhere high up, and there weren't too many places higher than Obi except for Tony himself and Pepper never forget Pepper. Who was to say that Obadiah Stane wasn’t the one supplying weapons to terrorists? He did go on business trips far more frequently than Tony though was usual.

“What is he going to do Harry? Do you know?” He hated the thought of his little bambino seeing awful things, needing to think about them, but he needed information to do anything about it.

“He’s going to rip your heart out,” and wasn’t that a completely different direction than Tony expected. He gathered his baby up in his lap; Harry was crying now and Tony could understand that, watching someone rip your father’s heart from their chest would be traumatizing for anyone let alone an eight year old. Tony was surprised Harry hadn’t wanted to sleep in bed with him; Tony wouldn’t want to sleep alone after that and he was never what anyone would consider close with Howard.

He could only hope that Harry meant that metaphorically because this betrayal would certainly break his heart. It would be even more fucked up if Obi was going to literally rip his heart out Temple of Doom style.

“Ok, it’ll be ok. I’ll make it ok,” He started rocking back and forth, it was a comfort to himself as much as to Harry at this point. He seemed so sure; Tony couldn’t doubt him again, promised not to, “Is that what your nightmare was about?”

“Yes,” Harry whispered into his neck, he could feel the wetness as tears trickled down Harry's face. Tony made soft cooing noises to try and calm him down a bit.

He was still reeling though, trying to wrap his head around how his oldest relationship, his father’s best friend, his own Uncle Obi would be trying to kill him maybe metaphorically maybe literally. It was a world shattering thing. The biggest betrayal of his life, and there had been a few douses before now. 

They sat there at the kitchen table until the sound of the door opening startled Tony out of his spiraling thoughts. He started freaking out before he realized it was probably Happy coming to see why Harry wasn’t waiting for him at the door. He let his heart beat return to its new normal when he recognized the tuneless humming that Happy sometimes slipped into.

“Hey guys, if we don’t get a move on you’ll be late little man,” Happy waggled Harry's school bag like they might not know where the kid should be going.

“Hey Hap,” He gave the man a distracted wave before turning back to his poor little bambino, “Do you want to go today? You can pass if you want, stay home with me today,” Tony offered, he might have wanted to keep Harry on a schedule but sometimes you’ve got to say fuck it. Right?

“No, I wanna go. But can we go out for ice cream after?” Harry asked with his big doe eyes, the ones that nobody could say no to. The last thing he needed was more sugar but as previously stated those eyes were practically a superpower.

“Sure Tesoro. Then maybe we’ll go to the park or something, yeah?” To walk off the ice cream... and everything else Harry had been getting from Pepper. He would have to start curbing Harry's sugar intake but that was for tomorrow, “If you’re going you’d better go. I’ll pick you up this afternoon instead of Happy. Look for the Spyder, ok?” Harry loved the Spyder; it was his favorite in the collection, although he was still trying to convince Tony to paint it lime green for some reason.

“K. Bye Dad. Three o’clock,” Harry threw his arms around Tony's neck and gave one last squeeze before sliding off his lap and accepting his back pack from Happy.

“Three o’clock. Have a good day; call me if you need to!” He called out as his son shuffled off to the car. There was a lot to do before he left to pick Harry up this afternoon and little time to do it. He slumped down into the hard wooden chair and closed his eyes, just for a moment, “J call Pepper for me, please.”

Jarvis must have thought he was hilarious pumping an old fashioned ring tone through the speakers; it did make Tony smile though and that was probably what he was trying to do, devious ball of circuitry that he was.

Pepper answered on the second ring, prompt as ever, “Good morning Tony. I’ll be there soon; I just stopped to pick something up. But I won't tell you what, it’s a surprise,” She sounded excited.

Tony wished he wasn’t going to ruin her day; he should wait until she got to the house now that he thought about it. She had been rather emotionally wrought since he had returned, presumably since he was captured, “That’s great Pep, can't wait to see it. I was just checking to see where you were.”

“I’m maybe ten minutes out. I’ll see you soon!”

“Yeah Pep, See you soon,” Tony said. Jarvis disconnected the call without any further prompting, “It’s going to be a rough day J. Are you ready for this?”

“Always Sir. Should I start looking into Mr. Stane's SI account?” It always made Tony a little giddy to see Jarvis taking initiative but he was too worried to really enjoy it right now.

“Yeah, let me know if you find anything interesting,” He busied himself fixing a cup of the coffee that had finally finished brewing to pass the time but it only took a minute and now he was left with nothing to do. He sat for a moment sipping his coffee but he was restless, his knee was jumping and his fingers drummed against his mug.

Tony jumped from his seat and bolted down to his lab, he couldn’t just sit here any longer he had to _do_ something. Jarvis would have no trouble with the SI servers but Tony would need to do the deep digging himself, and he could start that right now. It would be good to have something to show Pepper, a bit of physical proof beyond ‘Harry had a dream’, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t go for that.

“Jarvis let me know when Pepper gets here… On second thought just send her down to the lab,” He was well known for simply ignoring Jarvis’ reminders, “We’ve got work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll! Look at all this content I've put out this week. Aren't you proud of me?


	12. Chapter 12

This was everything he had feared he might find and more. There were so many numbers that didn’t match up it wasn’t funny. It wasn’t just money being skimmed off the top either. It wasn’t just a few weapons not making it to their final destination. There were shipments of weapons of all types going missing all over the place; this was almost a fifth of their yearly production going missing _every year_.

The worst part was he wouldn’t have suspected any of it connected to the man who was practically his second father if Harry didn’t tell him it was Obadiah. Obadiah seemed squeaky clean until he looked deeper. Under that veneer of a model CFO was a corrupt man making millions off of terrorists and extremists.

The dozen accounts Tony found in various off shore banks for the suspicious and disreputable were only the tip of the iceberg. Every one of Obi's ‘Business trips’ corresponded with a missing shipment of weapons and a large deposit into one of those shady accounts.

All of this was going on right under his nose. He hadn’t noticed though, to busy with women and alcohol at first then too set in his pattern of ignoring everything but what he wanted to look at. He let this happen.

He had unraveled the whole thing in less than fifteen minutes. All of it was right there waiting for him to find it. Sure to someone else it may have taken a little longer but between him and his super computer it took no time at all.

He was broken out of his internal horror by a voice calling out to him from the stairs, “Tony? I have something for you.”

Pepper, with her bright smile, came gliding over to him in those terrifying heels. She had a wrapped box with a pretty gold bow in her hands.

Tony had to take a second to adjust to Pepper, whose mood was so very different from his own today. He shook himself before grinning at her even though he didn’t feel much like smiling, “You know how much I love presents.”

“Open it then!” She set it in front of him and settled in to watch. Pepper loved giving people things even more than Tony did; she took great joy in giving a perfect gift. Tony couldn’t help but laugh as she bounced in her seat, high on anticipation. He pulled the bow apart as slowly as he could manage, trying to draw out the moment just a little longer. “Tony, I will kill you with a stiletto through the eye if you don’t open it right now.”

“Ok fine Lizzie Borden… so impatient,” There was every chance the terrifying woman would actually kill him with her shoe so he decided not to tempt fate and actually open the box.

“A Louis Vuitton heel is far more elegant than an axe Tony.”

“Of course Pepper, how silly of me,” Not like the point was her thinking of murdering him or anything, it was the how that was important apparently. He focused on his little box, Tony knew better than to shake it as much as he enjoyed trying to guess what might be inside. Pepper had gifted him more than one extremely fragile thing over the years that he was forever afraid he would break if he even looked at funny.

Needless to say as soon as he had Harry in his life he had the perfect excuse to put all such things in a secure building far far away from his son who- through no fault of his own- exploded light bulbs on the regular. Instead of something else to add to the far off breakable collection, inside the box was the Arc Reactor that Pepper had helped him remove from his chest the other day. In the center was a picture of him and Harry asleep on the couch together after one of their famous Saturday movie nights. On the outer lip there was an inscription that read _‘Proof that Tony Stark has a heart’_ in block letters. The whole thing was put onto a little pedestal and looked very well done.

It was in equal parts touching and terrifying. The sentiment behind it was beautiful, Pepper was great like that but the symbolism was so worrisome. Here he was holding his heart in his hands in more ways than one. He had originally thought it would be about Obi betraying him and that was metaphorically like tearing his heart out but…Did Harry mean that Obadiah was going to figuratively rip his heart out by hurting Harry? Or did Harry mean far more literally (and way more practical than Kali Ma style hand in the chest) ripping the Arc Reactor out of his chest?

“Tony? Do you hate it? I’m so sorry, it was supposed to be a joke. Because of all the times people accused you of being heartless. I’ll just get rid of it!” Now he had upset Pepper. He hadn’t meant to but he was almost hyperventilating. There was a gentle tugging on the reactor in his hands and he clutched it all the tighter. He wouldn’t be letting go any time soon. Obadiah couldn’t have his heart, no matter which one he was going to try and take.

“Tony? Tony! Please, I'm so sorry,” Pepper was crying but it was so soft. It sounded far away. He had other things to think about anyway, Pepper was so strong she could look after herself; he had to think about Harry and how to keep him safe. He had to take Obadiah down.  He had to figure out how to retrieve all of those weapons that were out there in the world reaping chaos and destruction.

All at once the world around him came back into focus, like a wave crashing against him and knocking him over. Tony felt dizzy and slow and bone tired all of the sudden. Pepper was crying and clutching at his hands, trying fruitlessly to pull the reactor out of his death grip while whispering how sorry she was over and over.

He could feel tear tracks down his own face; he wasn’t doing a great job of keeping it together. The one mercy was that Harry wasn’t here to see his little breakdown. He just had to get through the rest of today and half of tomorrow, and then he would see a head shrink and they would give him some kind of mental epoxy for all the little pieces that needed to be stuck back together.   

“No, Pepper. It’s nothing you did. I’m sorry,” he just became aware of how much his hands hurt from clutching at the reactor, if Pepper weren't still holding his hands he probably would have dropped it, “This is lovely, really Pep. I just learned some really disturbing news this morning and this was the tipping point. It would have happened present or no present.”

“Tell me everything. Then tell me how can I help?” She wiped tears from her eyes with a look of determination on her face. He didn’t think she had ever been more beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short but I think this is a good point to stop and a way to get back in the groove of writing. I know I've been neglecting my stories lately, there's no real reason besides the lack of inspiration and will to write.


	13. Chapter 13

It was like a slap in the face  when it was already bruised .  It stung and a ched  in equal measure  every time  Tony found out one more little betrayal .  Not that this was little . This was big. This was huge. This was- 

Tony was going to be sick. 

The echo of his own screams was the backdrop to his retching. Jarvis was kind enough to stop the loop for him before he could listen to Raza threaten him again. He wasn’t in a cave. He wasn’t in the desert. He was safe. He was home. He was alive. Raza went up in an explosion Tony made. He had won. 

The whir of servos made Tony look up from the garbage can he was cradling so delicately, Dum-E rotated his mounted camera and zoomed in to get a great view of Tony in all his glory. There were probably almost as many pictures of Tony like this, hunched over and in a state, as there were of him in black tie and strutting. 

When he decided to root around in Obadiah’s emails and saved files, he hadn’t thought he would find anything like this. He had expected the regular SI emails, he had expected to find carefully worded documents about where and when shipments would be dropped off, and maybe even some names if all parties were equally stupid, but this was not something he had braced himself to find. Obadiah had hired the Ten Rings to kill him, of course he hired the wrong terrorist group or didn’t pay them all that well because they had conveniently forgotten the part where they had to actually put a bullet in Tony Stark’s head. Lucky him.

He stumbled over to the shop sinks and rinsed out the can before Pepper came back with coffee and sandwiches, he didn’t need her to see him like that right now. He had to pull himself together, for her but most of all for Harry. Obadiah was a much bigger threat than he ever could have guessed, this was quite possibly too big for him to deal with internally.  Scratch that, this definitely was not a thing that he could deal with himself. 

“Tony?” Tony could feel Pepper hovering close but she didn’t actually touch him. It was only then he realized he was staring into the industrial sink, watching the water run down the drain after spilling out of the trash can he’d been trying to clean. He could still smell the acidic tang of vomit in the air but that may have just been him, he should probably brush his teeth.

“Sorry, did you ask something Pep?” He finally pulled his eyes away from the sink to find his PA giving him a very concerned face. Pulling it together was going really well. 

“I was asking if you were ok, but that seems silly right now. You're about as far from ok as possible,” Her eyes were teary and Tony didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with her breakdown on top of his own.

“In my own opinion I feel like I'm doing great. No longer the captive of radical terrorists, aware of the traitor who tried to have me killed, and I’m still alive,” He was an absolute wreck but there was no need to tell that to Pepper if she didn’t already know. She probably did. 

“Oh Tony.”

“But I could be even better, and the only way to do that is to get rid of Obadiah as quickly and efficiently as possible . ” 

“Of course,” And that was why he loved Pepper, just like that her back straightened and she was ready to take on anything. He could still see the worry in her eyes but she would push it away and do what needed to be done because that was just who she was . He wouldn’t let her put herself in danger like that though, he would never forgive himself if she were hurt in all this  craziness . 

In the last four hours they had found so many things linking back to Obadiah  Stane that Tony was sure he could have the man in some deep dark hole the military never outwardly acknowledged existed but saved for traitors and terrorists. This last bit was just one more nail in his coffin but it  definitely shook Tony to his core. 

“Jarvis, call my honey bear and tell him we need him here. No actually, tell him we need our military liaison. This is official business,”  Rhodey would know who to take this information to so the job was done quietly and efficiently, the last thing they needed was  Obadiah to catch wind and disappear before he could be brought to justice , “And prepare a full report for him while you’re at it. Lay out everything we’ve got. 

“Pep, you should get back to the office. Act like everything is normal but for god's sake stay as far from  Stane as you can,” it was clear that the man was willing to do almost anything to get what he wanted and Tony was sure hurting Pepper wasn’t going to keep _ him _ up at night. 

“Right. Just a normal day, not like a man I've known for years has been selling weapons to terrorists, possibly for longer than I've been alive. Just your regular Friday,” Pepper was visibly freaking out, she had been off kilter since she got here and wasn’t handling this news any better than Tony himself. 

“You can do this. Just for today, I want you to schedule a set of meetings somewhere far away. Doesn’t matter where or for what, go to  C hina and buy out a tech company for us or something. I want you safe,” he was sure between himself and  Rhodey they could deal with the proceedings from here. 

“And what about you? What about  _ Harry _ ?” Her voice hitched at the end. Tony grabbed her elbow and led her to one of the shop stools so she could sit. One hand ran soothing circles between her shoulders.

“I’m going to be fine. And I would never let something happen to Harry. J you know not to let  Stane within a mile of the house without letting me know right?” 

“Of course, sir. He has been blacklisted from all of your private properties,” Jarvis would keep them safe; he was very protective of Harry, going so far as to vet all of the children and teachers at his son’s school, “Colonel Rhodes has replied that he will arrive within the hour. He seems agitated considering you almost never ask for him in his professional capacity. He has asked what the purpose of this meeting is, what would you like me to tell him?”

“Don’t tell him a thing, it will only worry him more and he needs to focus on the road. I don’t want him crashing in a stupid attempt to get here five minutes faster.”

“As you wish.”

“Bye Pep. Be normal, be safe and make sure where ever you choose to go has a nice day spa , ” he thought she had gathered herself a bit. It was best if she made an appearance at the office and left again now before she overthought it. He helped her to the door to the shop. 

“ Tony I don’t want to leave you with this. I can-”

“You have helped plenty. I don’t want you in the middle of this, Please Pep,” he gave his best impression of Harrys puppy eyes of doom. 

“I’ll go on the condition that you keep me updated. Anything happens, anything at all, I'm the first person you call. Am I understood?” Now how come she could be this firm with him but with Harry she just melted and caved in like chocolate under a hairdryer? 

“Yeah. I promise. You hear that J? Pepper is the number one on our contact list.”

“You say that as if it was not already so,” Jarvis pointed out because he thought he was helpful and funny. Neither of which were true, but Tony would let him believe it for now. 

“That’s a great point, I already do that. So now that that’s settled, have a lovely trip  Ms Potts,” With Pepper away that was one less thing he’d have to worry about. 

“I will. Thank you, Mr. Stark,” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged so hard Tony felt he might suffocate. And just like that Pepper swept out of the room, hopefully for a lovely little vacation with minimal actual work. 

The struggle he had been having last night with whether he should or should not make a suit of armor was much less of a dilemma now.  Harry would need every protection Tony could afford him, that included his father outfitting himself with a bulletproof flying suit of armor. The current circumstances had made this decision for him, who knew what Obadiah would do if he felt like he was being cornered. 

He pulled up the blueprints that he had been perfecting even while he was trying to talk himself out of it. They were mostly done. Now there was the practical testing and the modification that came after he had some hard data to work with. 

“Start fabrication, let’s see how well mark two turns out,” There were a lot of parts that would obviously need a delicate touch that just couldn’t be accomplished by the fabricator but that was alright, Tony needed something to do with his hands right now. He got to work while the fabricator started on the large metal plates that would make the chest piece. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead. I'm still not happy with how this chapter turned out but at least I got somewhere... next chapter will be Rhodey then Ice cream.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bad at titles so this is from the song Goodnight My Angel, by Billy Joel.  
> Italian words  
> Bambino-baby  
> Zia-Aunt  
> Zio-Uncle  
> Tesoro-treasure  
> Topolino-little mouse  
> Cucciolo-puppy


End file.
